What Does 2 Corinthians 10:17 Mean?
But the one who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.THE KEY
Greek uses the same verb for “glorieth” and “glory,” so the verse does not erase boasting, it relocates its ground from the self to the Lord.
THE MEANING
This verse addresses you now: the thing worth boasting in is not your wisdom, strength, or standing, but the Lord. It does not demand silence; it redirects the boast toward the One whose character gives it its ground.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Your achievements, strength, or standing are the rightful basis for your worth and boast.
THE ROOT
καυχάομαι
kauchaomai
GROWS FROM
καυχ-
Greek verb stem
to boast, exult, or take pride
“boasts” in this verse is kauchaomai. The KJV renders the same Greek verb first as “glorieth” and then as “glory.” The movement is not from boasting to silence, but from the self as the boast’s ground to the Lord as its ground.
ALSO GROWS
kauchema: a boast or ground for boasting
καύχημα
This noun shows that the word family can name what someone takes pride in; the verse redirects that ground toward the Lord.
kauchēsis: boasting or the act of boasting
καύχησις
This related noun makes the act of boasting explicit: the verse redirects the boast rather than forbidding it.
THE PATTERN
Boasting finds its proper ground in the Lord’s character rather than in human status.
But let the one who boasts boast in this, that he discerns and perceives me, that I am the LORD who does faithful love, judgment, and alignment in the earth. For in these things I delight, says the LORD.My living soul makes its boast in the LORD; the bowed ones hear it and are glad.So that, just as it is written, "The one who boasts, let him boast in the LORD."THE THREAD
But let the one who boasts boast in this, that he discerns and perceives me, that I am the LORD who does faithful love, judgment, and alignment in the earth. For in these things I delight, says the LORD.Jeremiah gives the content of the boast: knowing the LORD by the lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness he practices. Paul’s short line echoes that same call to boast in the Lord.
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